


The Neptune Hotel

by opalheart12



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Hotel mystery, Suspense, lots of other fun things, unspoken feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-02 20:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15804426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalheart12/pseuds/opalheart12
Summary: Abbie and Crane have been tasked with investigating a string of disappearances at The Neptune Hotel, a mysterious hotel in the middle of New Hampshire. Along the way, they might finally realize they’re absolutely crazy about each other. Inspired by Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino by Arctic Monkeys and Cherry by Lana del Rey.





	1. Decidedly Not Okay

If someone had told her just last week that she would be on a train to an ominous hotel in the middle of New Hampshire she might have laughed and told them to _please_ stop smoking whatever legendary strain of weed they had access to.

But, unfortunately, it was no laughing matter. Her superiors in the FBI had informed her that something supernatural was happening at the Neptune Hotel and she would be the one investigating. It was fine, she supposed, except for the fact that she’d been required to take Ichabod _fucking_ Crane with her.  

They hadn’t spoken a word to each other since the Pandora incident. The box had rejected her, thankfully, spitting her back out not even five seconds after it obliterated Pandora herself. She’d been quite relieved to not be dead but disappointed too, because she’d been quite ready to die. Crane had taken it especially hard and, while she resented him for the terrible turn their relationship had taken in the two years prior to the Pandora incident, Abbie could admit that she felt bad about the whole thing.

“There once was a time when we were inseparable,” she muttered quietly as the lush green woods rapidly passed her by. “Now look at us.” Crane was sitting at the opposite end of the car, his face practically buried in a book about Roman mystery cults, muttering his own musings to himself occasionally. 

Someone at the FBI had been able to land them the most luxurious sleeping car Abbie had ever seen on a train, and she was loath to admit it was, essentially, a small studio apartment. The side where Crane was served as a small living area with a decently sized sectional sofa and coffee table. Abbie was sitting in an armchair next to a large queen sized bed. A small kitchenette sat across from Crane as did a dining area. The only section of the car with any sort of wall was a small bathroom that contained only a toilet, shower, and sink.

As they were coming straight from DC, Abbie had resigned herself to a rather long train ride, sixteen hours to be exact. They’d only just got on two hours ago and already Abbie wished to be off. They could have flown but her bosses hadn’t wanted to draw suspicion by flying. Apparently, the Neptune Hotel was only accessible by train in the first place and the two of them being worn out from their long journey needed to be believable. Or Danny was trying to make her suffer. She felt a spark of rage bloom in her chest and let out a low growl as she got up from the chair and went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Danny _fucking_ Reynolds. If she never heard that name again it would be too soon. Somewhere along the lines, he’d grown jealous and resentful of whatever the hell her relationship with Crane was. He’d felt left out of the whole supernatural business, or so he pretended to be. In actuality, he’d known everything about her and Crane’s little endeavor to save the world from forces natural or otherwise. In fact, he’d reported to an entire obscure division of the FBI all about Abbie and Crane and all the weird shit that happened in Sleepy Hollow. Their reconnection had been fake, Abbie learned. She was merely an assignment for him. Now she’d been practically coerced into working whatever cases the FBI’s Division of Unnatural Occurrences (DUO as she called them) and she was decidedly pissed.

As Abbie looked at herself in the bathroom mirror she tried not to allow the angry tears filling her eyes to fall down her cheeks but she was decidedly unsuccessful. A sob escaped her, one she realized she’d been holding in since before she’d stepped into that fucking tree and ended up wherever she hell she went. For some reason, Abbie hadn’t allowed herself to really feel the weight of everything that had happened in the past year. She’d merely gone with the motions, allowing herself to be shuffled around and squashing any pesky feelings of depression and anger before she really had a chance to feel any of it.

“It’s for the best,” Abbie told her reflection. “We can feel this shit later.” It was what she always told herself in particularly bad times, terrible coping mechanism though it may be. After splashing water on her face and steadying herself, Abbie left the bathroom and walked over to the kitchenette. Crane’s piercing blue eyes followed her curiously, an unreadable expression on his face.

Abbie snatched a bottle of water from the small refrigerator and a bag of trail mix from the cabinet before walking back over to the bed and flopping down onto it. Her appetite had vanished just as quick as it came and she found herself falling asleep.

Crane watched her from across the room, not knowing what to make of her sudden outburst. He’d wanted to ask if everything was ok but things between them were decidedly _not_ okay. He watched as she eventually fell asleep, her water and trail mix uneaten. He wasn’t sure what awaited them at the Neptune Hotel but he hoped, bizarrely he thought, that it would bring he and Abbie back together again.


	2. No Bullshit

The moon was as large as he’d ever seen it, coated with the barest hints of orange. The night air floated across his face, caressing his skin with comfortingly delicate warmth. His sea washed brown hair blew pleasantly around him as he watched the water in the lake ripple, hinting at one of his most prized creation playfully swimming underneath.

“Is everything alright, dear?”

The man turned away from the lake and faced the woman who had spoken. Her skin was the color of wet sand, her eyes the color of the sea at sunset, and her ink black hair braided intricately with sea lilies. As always, his eyes roved across her figure hungrily. She wore a cream-colored dress that clung to her figure as if it had been poured on top of her. Labyrinthine straps curled around her chest and neck, exposing his favorite parts of her to him. He felt his desire for her flare as it always did.

“Everything is perfect. Is the sacrifice ready?” His voice was rough and languid, much like waves crashing powerfully against the shore.

The woman rushed forward, kissing the man lovingly. “Of course, my love. Follow me.”

They walked back inside the hotel, the man giving one last longing look at the vast lake before shutting the french doors behind him. He followed the woman down the bright blue and gold hall to the pool room at the end. Distant screams could be heard from those inside. He found a smile spreading across his face as the woman opened the door for him.

The pool room was an elaborate extension of the hall they’d just come from. If the sea could be adequately captured in a room it would be in this pool. He felt elation and pride bloom within him as he watched the three young women struggle against their ties. Their bodies were practically encased in rope and in their mouths were balls of seaweed. Their hair was braided into an elaborate halo mixed with the very same sea lilies in his beloved’s hair.

“Salacia, my love, you have outdone yourself.” The man pulled her in front of him so that he could kiss her neck. His body hummed with satisfaction as a moan escaped her mouth. “Shall we do it now?”

Salacia moaned again, louder this time, as his hands traveled downward. “Yes, my love. It is your sacrifice after all!” Her eyes darted over to the sandbags on the floor next to the large pool of water below the women. She took an ornate curved dagger from inside her dress and threw it. Its mark was true as it sliced the rope in half and the women, screaming, were dropped into the pool. The water immediately bubbled and their screams were muffled as the water pushed its way through their lungs.

The man pushed Salacia against the wall, immediately shoving her dress up as far as it would go, hungrily kissing her neck all the while. Her laughs and moans and the sounds of their impassioned lovemaking drowned out the sounds of the women dying in the pool behind them.

* * *

Ichabod woke up to _something_ poking at him. His eyes quickly shot open and he jumped back quite suddenly out of habit. At first, all he could see was the finger which he then followed upward to see that it was Abbie trying to give him a heart attack. The inside of the car was nearly pitch black save for the glow of the large full moon shining through the window.

“Ms. Mills,” Crane breathed out, willing his heart to stop trying to fight its way out of his chest. “Is something wrong?”

Abbie sat down next to him on the sofa. At some point, she’d changed into a large t-shirt and put her hair up into a messy bun. Her eyes held an unreadable expression and she seemed to be searching him for something. “We need to talk.”

“That’s an understatement,” Crane found himself muttering as he rubbed his eyes and sat up. “Is this about us?”

“Us?” Abbie asked. She wanted there to be an us. But she didn’t know if Crane did and she didn’t want to presume anything. Maybe he meant _us_ as in their partnership. “Yes, us.” 

Crane stared at her curiously. He could see something inside her was conflicted but he didn’t have enough information to truly press her on it. He wondered what it was that flustered her; perhaps it was the idea of the two of them...together...in more ways than one. But how would he even know that?

“Continue.”

“I don’t know what we’re going into with this Neptune place but people go missing there and it’s up to us to figure out what the hell is going on and what happened to them. To do that we need to work together even if neither of us wants to—“

“What reason is there that we might not wish to work together, Lieutenant? Are we not partners in all things?”

“I wish.” The words slipped out of Abbie’s mouth before she even had a chance to stop them, her hand belatedly covering her mouth.

Crane’s eyes narrowed slightly as he let her interruption wash over him. Perhaps she did want something more between them. But, if the last two years were any indication, they would need to rebuild the trust between them before anything else could happen. His mind set, Ichabod took Abbie’s hands into his own, looking directly into the warm brown eyes that had come to mean so much to him.

“I vow to work with you to solve this case as quickly and efficiently as possible and that we will repair the damage between us, Abbie. You mean far too much to me.” Conviction coated every word and Abbie realized he wasn’t lying to her. There would be time to hash out what exactly happened between them and how they would move forward.

“We have to focus on this case,” Abbie replied. If Crane didn’t know any better he would think she was trying to convince herself more than him. “Just promise me we’ll focus on the case and get it solved as quickly as possible. No bullshit.”

Crane smiled thoughtfully at her, his eyes sparkling. “Yes, Lieutenant. No bullshit.”


End file.
